While it may not be so easy to bring federal dollars into a district as it once was, the panel remains an important power center in Washington -- and it signals that Herrera Beutler's influence is going to take a jump up.

“I’ll work to make sure that important Southwest Washington priorities
are adequately funded -- but I will also be looking to save taxpayer
dollars wherever possible. From this committee, I can make sure federal
agencies are being accountable to citizens, help curb excess and
job-harming federal regulations, and ensure we’re spending at a
responsible level that allows our economy to recover.”

Herrera Beutler's ascension to the committee could also make her a more influential figure in the fight over the planned Columbia River Crossing bridge project across the Columbia River. She's expressed concerns about the current scope of the $3.5 billion project.

With the retirement of Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., Herrera Beutler becomes the only Northwest member on the House appropriations panel. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Many Oregonians, of course, remember when then-Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore., chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee in the 1980s and 1990s and steered hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to the state.